


ten minutes to love

by fangirl_squee



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Hadrian/Rosana, M/M, Speed Dating, background ephrim/throndir, background hella/adaire and hella/adaire/adelaide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:14:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26578129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_squee/pseuds/fangirl_squee
Summary: Lem and Fero keep getting matched during the same speed dating event.
Relationships: Fero Feritas/Lem King
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	ten minutes to love

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely inspired by [this tweet](https://twitter.com/CornOnTheGoblin/status/1286373204840284161).

“This is so dumb,” said Fero.

“If you hate it so much why did you even agree to this?” said Hella.

“Because you said you’d owe me a favour,” said Fero.

“No,” said Hella, “I said  _ you _ owed  _ me _ a favour.”

Fero waved a hand. “Whatever, a favour was involved. It’s still dumb.”

“It’s only a couple hours,” said Hella, “and it means a lot to Adaire that it’s a success.”

“Why’s she even running this anyway?” said Fero.

Hella shrugged. “I don’t know, she said something about data and mailing lists, I wasn’t totally paying attention. The point is, she needs as many people as possible to go for it to work. I even got Hadrian to come.”

“Hadrian, the most married guy we know?” said Fero, “ _ That _ Hadrian?”

“Rosana said she’d come too and make it their date night.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to have so many married people at speed dating things,” said Fero, “At least, not if they’re as married as those two.”

“They’re just the normal amount of married, it’ll be fine,” said Hella, “It’s just to boost numbers anyway- oh, there’s the place, keep an eye out for a parking spot.”

The bar, when they reached it, looked just the same as it always did - the huge neon sign proclaiming it to be  _ Red Jack’s Saloon _ tinting the red-painted shop front a neon purple-blue, the sounds of people laughing and talking spilling out into the street, drawing them in.

The speed dating event had been set up towards the back, the huge potted palms that normally dotted the room arranged to give the space some privacy from the rest of the bar. Each of the tables set up was adorned with a red tablecloth, a little LED candle, and a notepad and pencil. There were already a few people, most of whom looked as nervous as Fero was trying not to feel. Adaire was waiting at the small section of the bar that was in the speed dating area. She nodded to Hella, not quite turning away fast enough to hide a smile.

Fero nudged Hella with his elbow.

“She’s just glad we got here on time,” said Hella.

“Uh huh,” said Fero.

Hella was saved from further teasing as Adaire turned back, ringing a small bell to get the attention of the assembled group.

“Good evening everyone, glad to see so many new faces here tonight-”

There was a rustling sound and a man burst through the line of palms.

“Sorry!” said the man, “Sorry I’m late! Am I late?”

“Just barely,” said Adaire smoothly, “Although this is as good a time as any to remind everyone to make sure to sign the attendance sheet at the front before we get started, so that we can make sure as many of you cross paths tonight as possible.”

She gave the man a pointed look, and he scurried over to where the sheet had been laid out by the little gate entranceway Adaire had set up in the line of palms. Fero laughed, earning him something that was a little too flustered to be entirely a glare from the man. Fero grinned at him widely, turning his attention back to Adaire as she began speaking again.

“Half of you will be assigned tables, and the other half will rotate around the room every ten minutes, so don’t hold back in your conversations! Get right to the heart of things, as it were,” said Adaire, “For any first timers who are nervous, it’s a very simple process. We’ll start in a moment, so you have just enough time to grab a drink before we begin.”

Fero would have done just that, if Adaire hadn’t pulled him aside almost straight away.

“Hella invited me,” said Fero, “Also, this is a public event, so I’m allowed to be here.”

“What? Actually, no, I don’t care. Listen,” said Adaire, “Did Hella- Hella told you why she came, right?”

Fero nodded.

“Well?” said Adaire.

Fero made a face. “Same reason I did, she said you wanted numbers to hide your data mining thing or whatever.”

“It’s too basic to be data mining,” said Adaire, “and anyway, this information is given to me freely-”

“Sure, whatever,” said Fero.

“Look, did Hella tell you why she came here tonight or not?”

“I already  _ told _ you,” said Fero, “She wanted to help you out.”

Adaire pressed her lips together. “Is that what she said?”

“Basically,” said Fero, “Look if you want to know why don’t you ask her?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Not really,” said Fero.

Adaire huffed a breath. “If you’re going to be  _ that _ way-”

She rang the bell, instantly quieting the conversations around them.

“Alright everyone! It’s time for the first match - check the board up here and head to your first date,” said Adaire.

Fero took his seat, resisting the urge to fiddle with the LED candle as he waited. He straightened as someone approached his table.

“Oh,” said Fero looking up, “the late guy.”

“My  _ name _ is  _ Lem _ .”

“Yeah, I know, I can see your nametag,” said Fero.

“Well, that’s- Nice to meet you-” He squinted at Fero’s chest for a moment, probably trying to decipher Fero’s (admittedly not very neat) handwriting. “-Favo?”

“ _ Fero _ .”

“Right, right,” said Lem.

“Are you going to sit down or what?”

Lem scrambled to sit down, his hands fluttering down in front of him. He cleared his throat.

“So, uh,” said Lem, “what do you do?”

“Really?” said Fero, “That’s your opening line?”

“I- it’s a perfectly acceptable conversation starter!”

“Adaire literally just said to skip the small talk,” said Fero, “That’s like, the smallest talk possible.”

“I don’t see how,” said Lem, “I find it’s a good place to start, or it is  _ normally _ , when the person I’m talking to isn’t so  _ rude _ .”

“Fine,” huffed Fero, “I work as a gardener and I do some carpentry stuff, sometimes.” He let out a sigh, rolling his eyes. “And what do you do Lem?”

Lem glared at him. “I’m a music teacher, but I’m also writing a book on the theoretics behind musical theory-”

“The theory behind the theory?”

“Yes,” said Lem brightening, “It’s very interesting really, the way-”

The bell chimed.

“Oh no, well, bye,” said Fero.

Lem shot him a glare, moving to another table. He seemed just as awkward as he spoke to the next person, and Fero said as much to his next date.

“He’s just like that,” said Devar, “I mean that’s part of why I’m here. Moral support, y’know?”

“Oh, me too,” said Fero, “Sort of, anyway.”

“That sounds more than ten minutes worth of interesting,” said Devar.

Fero laughed, and was almost disappointed when the bell chimed again.

He paid more attention during his next date. He kind of had to, since Ephrim got as far as introducing himself before he got distracted by someone a few tables down.

Fero leaned backwards. “Do you know that guy?”

“What?” said Ephrim.

“The dude you keep staring at down there,” said Fero, “Do you know him or something?”

Ephrim’s cheeks went faintly pink. “I- sort of. We went on this road trip together last year, and then when we got to the cabin we got snowed in and- well.”

Fero leaned forward. Ephrim’s blush deepened, and he took a long drink.

“So?” said Fero.

“So nothing,” said Ephrim, his attention drifting back across the room, “we came back and then there was this whole thing with the kid he was looking after and it was complicated and I- we just fell out of touch, I suppose.”

“Well this whole night is about getting in touch or whatever,” said Fero, “You should skip the rest of the dates and go over and touch him.”

“ _ Fero _ ,” said Ephrim.

“What?” said Fero.

The bell chimed again, bringing with it a familiar face.

“Wait, you again?” said Lem. 

“Uh,  _ rude _ ,” said Fero, as though he was not wondering the same thing.

“I thought we were supposed to get different matches?”

Fero shrugged. “You were late, I guess they ran out of people for you to talk to.”

“That’s not how that works,” said Lem.

“How do you know? It could be.”

“I… suppose.” Lem paused. “Oh, I could finish telling you about my book!”

“You already did that,” said Fero, “Double musical theory or whatever.”

Lem spluttered.

“Being a music teacher sounds cool though,” offered Fero.

Lem smiled. “It is. That’s, uh, it’s actually how I found out about this event actually. One of my student’s parents said they were coming.”

“What, both of them?” said Fero. “Wait, you mean Hadrian and Rosana?”

Lem’s eyebrows shot up. “How do you know Ben’s parents?”

“Hadrian’s friends with my friend Hella.”

“Oh, Hella!” said Lem, “Yes, I know her, she and Hadrian helped me move flats a little while ago.” He frowned. “Wait, I- my new place has a little garden and Hadrian said Hella had a friend who might be able to help get it in order-”

Fero gasped. “Oh! You’re the plant killing guy she keeps trying to get me to call!”

“I don’t- well, it- plants are just difficult, I’m very busy-”

“Not really,” said Fero.

“Well, I- since you’re here, are you- do you have any advice?”

Fero tilted his head. “Probably.”

Lem made a frustrated sound, and the bell chimed again.

Fero laughed. “You can ask me after.”

He watched the line of Lem’s back as he sat down on the other side of the room. Hella dropped into the seat opposite him, blocking his view.

“How’s it been going?”

“I’ve got the one dude twice so far- wait, that’s not even the weird part, it’s the plant killer guy,” said Fero.

“What?”

“That guy, Hadrian’s kid’s teacher, the one you keep trying to get me to call, he’s the guy who was late to this!”

“Huh,” said Hella. “So, how is he?”

“Tall,” said Fero, “Weird.”

Hella laughed.

“How’s your night?” said Fero.

Hella shrugged. “Okay.”

“Did Adaire come talk to you yet?”

“Why would she?” said Hella, “She’s running the event, not part of it.”

Fero shrugged. “She was just asking about you, that’s all, so I told her to ask you.”

“What?”

“Well she had all these questions about why you came and I was like, why don’t you just ask Hella yourself and then she got all  _ weird _ about it. I mean, I thought you were doing this as a favour to her, not because you two were arguing or whatever.”

“We’re not arguing,” said Hella, twisting a little in her seat to look at Adaire. “I- she’s probably just too busy to ask me whatever it is right now.”

From her place by the bar, Adaire stared back at them, her attention on Hella.

“Right,” said Fero.

The bell chimed again. Adaire and Hella’s attention stayed on one another even as Hella moved to her new seat.

Another familiar face sat down in front of Fero, but he couldn’t place it until he noticed the man’s gaze would flick to Ephrim at the end of every sentence.

“Oh, wait,” said Fero, interrupting him, “Are you- do you know Ephrim?”

Throndir blushed. “I- a little. We took this road trip together a while back-”

“You’re the guy he was snowed in with!” said Fero delightedly.

Throndir’s eyes widened. “He told you about that?”

“Yeah, he seemed kind of bummed that he hadn’t seen you in a while,” said Fero.

“I had- Blue J was having this problem at school and I had to take time off from work to help him and the rest of the kids out.” Throndir sighed. “It- things just sort of got away from me, you know? You have to prioritise.”

“Sure,” said Fero, “but you should probably talk to him after this.”

Throndir gave him a lopsided smile. “Maybe.”

His next date was much more upbeat. Red Jack’s laugh drowned out the sound of conversation around them and Fero grinned. He didn’t get a lot of words in edgewise around Red Jack’s winding anecdote, but he had a great ten minutes listening to it.

The bell chimed, bringing Lem back to his table.

“I’m going to talk to Adaire,” said Fero.

“Don’t bother, I did that already,” said Lem.

“And?”

“Something about the numbers,” said Lem, “I don’t know.” He sighed.

“Wow, I’m sorry that you’re having such an awful time talking to me,” said Fero.

Lem blinked. “I- I’m not. I thought  _ you _ were.”

“Nah,” said Fero, “You’re okay.”

“Well, thank you, I suppose.”

“You’re welcome,” said Fero.

Lem laughed, the sound of it making Fero grin.

“Well, I guess we should try talking to each other this time,” said Fero.

“I tried that,” said Lem, “You were very against my attempt at conversation.”

“It was a boring question,” said Fero.

“And a better one is…?”

“What’s your favourite bird?” said Fero.

“I- really?”

“It’s okay if you don’t have just one,” said Fero, “I mean, I can only narrow mine down to a top ten.”

Lem laughed, and listened to Fero talk about sparrows and finches for the rest of their ten minutes. Fero was almost disappointed when the bell chimed and Lem had to move to a different table.

Adelaide slid smoothly into the chair opposite him.

“Hey, hi, hello,” said Fero.

“Hello,” said Adelaide, “I assume Hella dragged you along to this?”

“It’s a favour, or something,” said Fero, “Why, did she ask you to come to it too?” He frowned. “Wait, why are you even here, I thought you were already dating Hella?”

“I… suppose I’m here as a kind of favour that she hasn’t asked me for just yet.”

Fero squinted at her. “Is that... a riddle?”

Adelaide smiled. “Most things are, in a way.”

“This is definitely the weirdest date so far,” said Fero.

“You are welcome,” said Adelaide.

Fero laughed.

The weirdness of the ten minutes with Adelaide was immediately topped by Hadrian, who talked very fast about Rosana without stopping for breath. Rosana, seated at the table next to them, reached over and patted his hand, which calmed him down enough that they could talk very vaguely about how Ben was going at school for the remaining five minutes.

Fero wasn’t even that surprised when Lem took the seat opposite him again.

“So,” said Lem, after a moment’s pause, “what’s your  _ eleventh _ favourite bird?”

Fero laughed, delighted, and told him about parakeets.

“That was the last round,” announced Adaire as she rang the bell, “the bar on this side will be open for another hour or so before they open this space up to the regular bar, so feel free to mingle here before you head out.”

They kept talking as they moved to the bar, Lem leaning against it and Fero leaning close to him to hear him a little better over the conversations going on around them. Fero copied the motion, feeling a thrill go through him as Lem’s cheeks flushed.

”I, uh, Adaire said they’re having another one of these next month,” said Fero.

“Oh?” said Lem, “Will you- uh, that is, were you going to that one?”

Fero shrugged. “Maybe.” He kicked his feet back and forth for a moment. “Are you gonna go?”

“Well I’ve only just heard about it so I wasn’t planning to,” said Lem.

Fero looked down at the glass in his hands. “Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

“But I uh.” Lem tapped his fingers on the bar.”I- maybe I will. I mean, I suppose I’ll know you at least. Makes things easier.”

“Yeah,” said Fero. He paused. “A month is a pretty long time though, you could be dating someone by then.”

“I- I suppose,” said Lem, “I mean, so could you.”

Fero wrinkled his nose. “I  _ guess _ . Getting to know people is pretty annoying though.”

Lem huffed a laugh. “Yes, I suppose it’s a good thing we’re passed all that.”

Fero looked up, tapping his fingers against his glass. “Yeah, I- Hey. We could do this again without-” He gestured to the room behind them. “-all this I mean.”

Lem’s cheeks flushed. “What, like- like a date?”

“Well this is already a date, kind of,” said Fero, “But I meant we could do it without all the other people or the time limit.”

The blush on Lem’s cheeks deepened. “I- yeah, alright.”

Fero grinned. “Yeah?”

“Why not?” said Lem, “I mean you’re- it was very interesting to talk to you.”

“That’s what people say!”

“Do they?”

“No,” said Fero. “Well, sometimes, but I think  _ you _ meant it as a compliment.”

“I did,” said Lem, quickly.

A warm feeling spread out from Fero’s chest, making his cheeks feel hot. “You’re pretty interesting too, I guess.”

“I- thank you,” said Lem, “I think.”

Hella waved, catching Fero’s eye. She gestured to the door, her eyebrows raised. Fero pressed his lips together for a moment, his gaze flicking back to Lem before he gave a small shake of his head. Hella grinned, giving him a thumbs up before she turned back to the door where Adaire and Adelaide were waiting for her. She slipped her arms through both of theirs, shooting one last grin at Fero over her shoulder before the door closed behind her.

“I guess they’re winding things up here,” said Lem.

“Yeah,” said Fero, “So what do you want to do now?”

Lem blinked. “I- oh, well I… there’s this little place I know that’s just up the road, if you’d like?”

“Sure,” said Fero, “lead the way, I guess.”

He hopped down from the stool, walking close to Lem as they headed to the door. Lem held the door open as Fero reached for it, their hands touching one another’s for a moment before Fero flinched back. He caught Lem’s expression, reaching for Lem’s hand again before he could think better of it. Lem’s cheeks flushed. Fero was really becoming quite fond of the colour.

Fero pressed his lips together again. “I guess I don’t feel like going home just yet.”

“You know,” said Lem, “It’s funny- neither do I.”

They both walked out into the night together, their fingers tangled together, the point of connection between them warm in the cool air of the night.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi: mariusperkins on most places


End file.
